10 Ambitious Video Game Gimmicks That BOMBED
2. Toys-To-Life
The toys-to-life genre is an undeniably fascinating one, typically requiring players to purchase real, tangible toys which are then able to interface with the software by attaching to existing hardware.
But toys-to-life is also an unapologetic fad which enjoyed a surge of popularity in the early-to-mid 2010s thanks to series like Skylanders, Disney Infinity, and Lego Dimensions.
And while there's no denying the incredible commercial success these games have had - Skylanders made $3 billion in a mere four-year period - it's also fair to say that toys-to-life has largely gone the way of Guitar Hero and thoroughly cratered.
As hardware sales dwindled, the aforementioned franchises all packed up operations, while Nintendo's Amiibo is currently clinging to life support, and 2018's Starlink: Battle for Atlas was effectively dead within six months of its release.
As a fusion of toy and video game, it's certainly an inspired idea evidently dreamt up by a galaxy-brained executive somewhere, but not one which offered up enough substance to be anything more than a craze which proved phenomenally successful for a brief time.